Fishing derby this weekend

By Kevin Jenkins | May 11, 2018 |

The Bonne Terre Chamber of Commerce Annual Fishing Derby is quickly approaching and the chamber is welcoming the community and surrounding communities to come out to enjoy a morning of fishing Saturday at the Bonne Terre Lakeview Park.

Bonne Terre Chamber Member Amy Keller said they are very excited for the event and they have received several prize donations for the event.

“We will have just as many if not more prizes than we had last year,” said Keller. “We actually were able to get one more bike than what we had last year to give away. We plan to raffle them by age this year, we don’t want a 5 year old getting a 10-speed bicycle.”

Keller said the morning will start with fishing at 8 a.m. and will wrap up about 10:30 a.m. They will have the fishing derby broke down into age groups like year’s past, 5 and under, 6 to 11 and then 12 to 15 years old.

“We will be giving out trophies again this year, one for biggest catch and one for the most caught,” said Keller. “When the kids get registered we will give them a ticket and we will call those numbers out when we award the trophies.”

Each year the chamber tries to make changes after each fishing derby to make the event even better the next year. Keller said they will be handing out whistles for the kids so when they catch a fish they can blow the whistle and someone can come over and measure their fish.

“Pharmax Pharmacy is donating the whistles and we are hoping it will make it easier when a fish is caught,” said Keller. “After the derby is complete we will have free hot dogs, chips, soda and water for the kids and parents to have lunch. All of that was donated by local businesses.”

She said they don’t have to be a resident of the city to attend. They want any and every kid to come out no matter where they live.

“We will have more fish going into the pond, the parks board has been discussing donating fish to the derby in addition to the Missouri Department of Conversation donating fish and the chamber purchasing fish,” said Keller. “Last year we had more than 100 kids last year and they would like to see around 120-130 kids this year.

Participants should bring their own tackle and bait and adults assisting the children must have a valid fishing license. Each participant or group of participants needs to have an adult supervising them.

The Fishing Derby will take place at Bonne Terre Lakeview Park. For additional information or to make a donation contact the Bonne Terre Chamber office at 573-358-4000 or Amy Keller at 573-701-4469.